Shri Parshvanath: life and stories
Following the Shwetambar tradition, chiefly Acharya Shri Hemchandracharya's Trishashti Shalaka Purush Charitra and the Kalpasutra. Kalyanak tithis are in Gujarati months.
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The story spans ten births. In the first, the brothers Marubhuti and Kamath were sons of a minister; Kamath, driven by jealousy, killed Marubhuti. Birth after birth Kamath's soul returned in hatred and Marubhuti's answered with forgiveness: as an elephant who found samyaktva, a dev, a muni, a chakravarti, King Suvarnabahu, who bound the Tirthankar naam karma, and at last Parshva.
On Fagan Vad 4 his soul came into the womb of Queen Vama, wife of King Ashvasen of Varanasi, and she saw the fourteen great dreams.
The tradition says that on a dark night his mother saw a black snake moving beside (parshva) her bed, so he was named Parshva. His chinh is the snake. His chinh is the snake.
He was born on Magshar Vad 10, and the Indras celebrated the janmabhishek on Meru.
After the Lokantik devs came to request him and a year of varshidaan, he took diksha on Magshar Vad 11 with three hundred men.
He attained kevalgyan on Fagan Vad 4; the devs built the samavasaran and the fourfold sangh was set up.
As a prince he saw the tapasvi Kamath, Kamath's soul again, burning logs for his panchagni tap. He had a log split open and a dying snake pair came out; hearing the Navkar from him, they were born as Dharanendra and Padmavati.
As a muni standing in kaussagg, he was struck by a great storm sent by Kamath, now the dev Meghmali, until the water reached his nose. Dharanendra and Padmavati raised him on a lotus and spread their hoods over him. He stayed equally calm towards both, and soon attained kevalgyan.
On Shravan Sud 8 Shri Parshvanath attained nirvan on Sammet Shikhar with thirty-three munis.
More derasars are dedicated to Parshvanath than to any other Tirthankar, under 108 and more names: Shankheshwar, Sherisa, Panchasara, Chintamani, Godi, Nakoda. His chaturvidh sangh flourished down to the time of Mahavir Swami.